Curling
Curling Report : January 2012
Report by Euan Lawrence
| Click here for previous report (October 2011) |
1. Rotary World Curling Championships : Washington
Preparations are well in hand for the upcoming World Championships to be held in Washington from 1st – 6th April 2012. Plane tickets have been purchased and hotel rooms booked in the Sheraton North Washington Hotel where all the participating teams will be staying. Blue team jackets and white polo shirts have also been purchased with the Rotary logo and names inscribed.
The team comprises Euan Lawrence, Neil Beattie, Geoff Barber, Ronnie Wilson and Alistair Tyre. Jan and Linda will be accompanying the team to provide much needed moral support.
Since the start of the 2011/2012 season the team has been playing together on a regular basis and has been participating in the Super League at Ayr Ice Rink. We have also been fortunate enough to have acquired the services of Kirsty Letton as a coach. Kirsty is a well-known curler and curling coach in Scottish circles and is manfully trying to iron out the flaws in all our deliveries. Charlie Steele is also assisting Kirsty and the team by videoing our deliveries!!
2. Scottish Ramshead Competition 2011/2012
This competition is well advanced, with the SW Scotland preliminary qualifying rounds and the subsequent knock-out Round Robin stages both having been completed. While the Ayr 2 team narrowly failed to qualify for the Round Robin stage the Ayr 1 team (the Washington team) competed in the Round Robin the final games of which were held on Sunday 15th January. Having previously beaten Stranraer in the first Round Robin game in December the Ayr 1 team ended up playing a decider Round Robin game against Ardrossan & Saltcoats on Sunday 15th January. The game was closely contested and had one or two key moments but Ayr 1 managed to prevail, winning 9-5 after 8 ends.
By winning the Round Robin competition Ayr 1 qualifies for the Scottish Finals of the Ramshead Trophy competition which will be held in Perth on Monday 12th and Tuesday 13th March. This is only the second time in the Club’s history that we have qualified for Perth, the only previous time being in 2010 when we lost in the final to Perth Rotary Club. Four teams from across Scotland will participate at Perth in an initial Round Robin competition with the top two teams going forward to the Final. The Rotary Club of Ayr has never won this coveted competition, a record which we hope to rectify in March!!
3. Ayrshire Rotary Curling League
Major problems have been encountered this season in getting Clubs to enter teams for this year’s League. Only four teams entered : Alloway; Ardrossan & Saltcoats; and Ayr (two teams). We managed however to persuade Jim Wilson of Cumnock Rotary Club to skip a composite team which involves curlers from different Rotary Clubs across Ayrshire. In true Rotary spirit it was considered more important for the spirit of this particular competition to allow a composite team to enter rather than only allow individual Clubs to enter teams.
The first round of games took place on 5th January with Ardrossan & Saltcoats beating the Composite team. In the other game Ayr 1 played Ayr 2. The teams comprised Geoff Barber (skip), Ronnie Wilson, Euan Lawrence and Wallace Allan; and Alex Thomson (lead and skip), Jim Nelson, Jimmy Begg and Brian Clarke. Having given Alex’s team a generous 7-1 lead after 4 ends Geoff and his team pulled back magnificently to 7-7 after 7 ends. In the 8th and deciding end with only one Ayr 2 stone to be played Geoff was lying shot with good front guards when Alex and Jim conjured up a marvellous wick-in off an outside stone to win the end and the match!. Well played Jim - a very fitting stone to win a tightly fought and enjoyable game. The usual post match refreshment was enjoyed by all 4 teams in a typical evening of Rotary curling fellowship.
4. Ayr Super League
The initial league games are coming to an end with most teams having played 9 of their 11 games. The Ayr1 team has thoroughly enjoyed competing at this level of curling, an experience which has definitely been beneficial and resulted in clear and marked improvements in the team’s performance as the season has advanced. The entire experience has been most useful in advance of Washington.
Having played 9 games Ayr 1 has won 4 and lost 5. With only a couple of exceptions the games which have been lost have been tightly contested with the results coming down to one or two key stones at critical points in each match. Again, the team has learned from these losses.
Following the completion of all the league games the Super League finishes on the afternoon of Sunday 26th February when the semi-finals and finals are played between the top four teams, with the remaining 8 teams playing a separate Bonspiel. Cash prizes are involved in both competitions. Should anyone be interested in seeing good competitive curling they should come along on 26th February for what is always a very competitive but social end to the Super League season.
5. Ayrshire v Glasgow
This annual match will take place at Ayr Ice Rink on the afternoon of Friday 9th March (4.00pm). Ayrshire are the holders after prevailing at Hamilton last year and we hope to do the same again this year. We will shortly be looking for players for this match.
6. Scottish Rotary “Jewel” Competition
This annual Bonspiel will take place at Perth Ice Rink on Tuesday 13th March. It traditionally takes place in parallel with the Ramshead Finals and is followed by a very sociable high tea, presentation of prizes, and the AGM of Scottish Rotary Curling. It is hoped that at least one team from the Rotary Club of Ayr will enter the “Jewel” competition on 13th March and be in Perth to support Ayr 1 in their quest to bring home the Ramshead Trophy.
Euan Lawrence : 15th January 2012